Lokomotiv vs CSKA. Who will win in the battle of neighbors in the standings?
On Friday, December 23, the central match of the day will take place on the ice of the Yaroslavl Arena 2000 Lokomotiv. Local Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow in a head-to-head dispute will play an intermediate second position in the standings of the Western Conference.
The main news of recent days from the railway camp is the extension for another two seasons of the contract with Igor Nikitin, who has been at the helm of Lokomotiv for the second year. There is logic in this decision, if last season Nikitin only got acquainted with the team, then the current championship already shows that Lokomotiv is gradually turning into one of the leaders of domestic hockey again. Like all Nikitin's teams, Lokomotiv takes its almost perfect game on the defensive, which often happens to the detriment of attacking actions.
So, in the first part of the championship, Lokomotiv was only 13 in terms of the number of goals scored (an average of 2.5 per match), but in terms of missed goals, it was in clear second place after Admiral (1.9 goals per match). Such an imbalance in game formations did not adversely affect the results of the team, Lokomotiv finished the first part of the championship in second place in the Western Conference, with 54 points, second only to the St. Petersburg army team. The first game after the break fell on a home match against the outsider of the championship - HC Sochi. Having conceded the puck in the middle of the first period, Lokomotiv, in its usual style, still put the squeeze on the opponent, scoring two goals in the final twenty minutes.
CSKA
It is with the army team that the best years of coaching work of the current coach of Lokomotiv, Igor Nikitin, are connected. Now CSKA is headed by Sergei Fedorov, who began his stellar career in the army club. Fedorov has already proved his worth as a club coach, it was under his leadership that the capital's army team took the main trophy last season - the Gagarin Cup. The capital club started the current championship not so brightly, which, however, was expected. CSKA is not the first team to face the so-called "post-championship syndrome".
Nevertheless, by October, the army team has noticeably added, gradually approaching the group of leaders. By the end of November, Fedorov's wards were already second in the West, seriously approaching teammates from St. Petersburg. The unsuccessful December segment prevented the army team from holding on to second place, when the team lost three of the four matches played. The army team played their first match after the break in Minsk, where, despite being the first to miss, they managed to win a major victory with a score of 5-1 over the local Dynamo. Thus, CSKA is now third in the West, 16 points behind SKA and only one behind Lokomotiv.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Lokomotiv vs CSKA
LokomotivThe main news of recent days from the railway camp is the extension for another two seasons of the contract with Igor Nikitin, who has been at the helm of Lokomotiv for the second year. There is logic in this decision, if last season Nikitin only got acquainted with the team, then the current championship already shows that Lokomotiv is gradually turning into one of the leaders of domestic hockey again. Like all Nikitin's teams, Lokomotiv takes its almost perfect game on the defensive, which often happens to the detriment of attacking actions.
So, in the first part of the championship, Lokomotiv was only 13 in terms of the number of goals scored (an average of 2.5 per match), but in terms of missed goals, it was in clear second place after Admiral (1.9 goals per match). Such an imbalance in game formations did not adversely affect the results of the team, Lokomotiv finished the first part of the championship in second place in the Western Conference, with 54 points, second only to the St. Petersburg army team. The first game after the break fell on a home match against the outsider of the championship - HC Sochi. Having conceded the puck in the middle of the first period, Lokomotiv, in its usual style, still put the squeeze on the opponent, scoring two goals in the final twenty minutes.
CSKA
It is with the army team that the best years of coaching work of the current coach of Lokomotiv, Igor Nikitin, are connected. Now CSKA is headed by Sergei Fedorov, who began his stellar career in the army club. Fedorov has already proved his worth as a club coach, it was under his leadership that the capital's army team took the main trophy last season - the Gagarin Cup. The capital club started the current championship not so brightly, which, however, was expected. CSKA is not the first team to face the so-called "post-championship syndrome".
Nevertheless, by October, the army team has noticeably added, gradually approaching the group of leaders. By the end of November, Fedorov's wards were already second in the West, seriously approaching teammates from St. Petersburg. The unsuccessful December segment prevented the army team from holding on to second place, when the team lost three of the four matches played. The army team played their first match after the break in Minsk, where, despite being the first to miss, they managed to win a major victory with a score of 5-1 over the local Dynamo. Thus, CSKA is now third in the West, 16 points behind SKA and only one behind Lokomotiv.
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